>>I don't need 90% of the market. I need one or two deep pockets clients who love me and will provide projects I find interesting in an environment I can tolerate ( i.e. never having to leave my home office and being able to completely structure my own time) so I don't have to get a job or work for a living.

In that case it's valid to argue that Cobol is the best option. Very deep pockets, very high pay rates, easy-peasy after all these years, weekends have been your own all along. Not going to move to Cobol? Then surely there's more to it. ;-) Seems to me there's value in being aboard the MS wagon even if it does turn out to be a bandwagon. ;-)

>>I look at trends in our business the way I do the sexual orientation and tastes of others - somewhat interesting but irrelevant to my personal situation unless I am trying to have relations with them :-)

That's what Henry Ford critics said. ;-) 5 years later they were manufacturing automobile tires or broke. It'll be even quicker this time. The key issue for me is that Amazon, Priceline etc made their fortunes on the web- but on mobile, they push towards native apps. There's a good reason for that and the rest of the market will figure it out, hopefully before MS does and abruptly changes direction.